Before the Open (Apr 1)

Good morning. Happy Friday. Happy Employment Numbers Day.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Japan fell 3.6%; Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea fell more than 1%. Europe is currently down across-the-board. Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland are down more than 2%; London, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Finland, Spain and Italy are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
The dollar is down. Oil is down a buck; copper is flat. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are up.
March is in the books. It was a great month that saw solid, across-the-board rallies from the indexes, but in the near term I remain skeptical of the market’s upside. I’ve had a defensive stance for a couple weeks, and even though the indexes pushed to higher highs this week, I don’t see a foundation in place for an extended move. Here’s a report covering the monthly charts.
Here are the employment numbers…
unemployment rate: 5.0% (was 5.0% last month)
nonfarm payrolls: +215K
private payrolls:
average workweek: flat at 34.4 hours
hourly wages: up 0.3% to $25.43
labor participation rate: 62.9%
January trimmed from 172K to 168K.
February raised from 242K to 245K.
After the release, futures held their levels being down moderately.
Be careful out there. Don’t be a hero. Big gains are in place the last six weeks…there’s a lack of quality set-ups to play…breadth indicators have declined. This is not a time for big positions. More after the open.
Stock headlines from barchart.com…
Tesla (TSLA +1.27%) yesterday evening unveiled and started taking orders on its Model 3 electric car, designed for the mass market with a price point of $35,000. Interest and orders were reportedly strong with more than 130,000 of reservations with a $1000 deposit.
Chipotle (CMG +1.03%) was downgraded to neutral from buy by Goldman with a price target lower to $500 from $550
Urban Outfitters (URBN +0.15%) rallied 2% in after-hours trading after reoprting that comparable sales in fiscal Q1 rose in the low-single digits.
Box Inc (BOX -2.08%) was up +0.6% in after-hours trading after being rated as a new buy at Drexel Hamilton.
Marvel Technology (MRVL -0.10%) fell by -5% in after-hours trading after saying that it is unable to file its 10k in a timely manner and that it sees a net loss for FY-2016 due to settlement and restructuring charges.
Marriott (MAR -0.52%) fell -4% in after-hours trading at Anbang said it pulled its $14 billion offer for Starwood (HOT -0.27%), thus clearing the way for Marriott to acquire Starwood.
SunEdison (SUNE -8.47%) fell by another 9% in after-hours trading after disclosing that it has received a subpeona from the Dept of Justice covering issues that are already being investigated by the SEC.
Archer Daniels (ADM -0.85%) announced an agreement to sell its sole sugar ethanol plant in Brazil.
Earnings and Economic Numbers from seekingalpha.com…
Today’s Economic Calendar
Auto sales
8:30 Non-farm payrolls
9:45 PMI Manufacturing Index
10:00 ISM Manufacturing Index
10:00 Construction Spending
10:00 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
Today’s Earnings here
Other…
today’s upgrades/downgrades from briefing.com
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers